Leave Me Alone (Hinds album)

Leave Me Alone is the debut full-length studio album by Spanish garage rock band Hinds. It was released on 8 January 2016 under Lucky Number and Mom + Pop Music. The album follows several singles and a 10"-compilation the band released between 2014 and 2016[2][3] as a duo and since adding drummer Amber Grimbergen and bassist Ade Martín as a quartet.[4] "Garden" "San Diego", "Easy" and "Warts" were released as singles and music videos.

Leave Me Alone
Studio album by Hinds
Released	8 January 2016
Studio	Paco Loco Studios, Cadiz[1]
Genre	Garage rock
Length	37:58
Label	Lucky Number Mom + Pop
Producer	Diego García
Hinds chronology
Leave Me Alone (2016) I Don't Run (2018)

In October 2016 a deluxe edition of Leave Me Alone was released, featuring a bonus disc of B-sides, rarities and cell phone demos that were mostly recorded prior to the album's recording. An animated music video for "Bamboo" was released to promote the deluxe edition.[5]

Music and lyrics

Leave Me Alone has been described as a set of cheerful, casual, lo-fi, guitar-driven pop songs, with many critics referring to the music as "surf-rock". Most songs feature duets by the band's two vocalists, Ana Perrote and Carlotta Cosials. The songs are sung in English, and thematically cover positive and negative romantic situations, among other subjects.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.3/10[7]
Metacritic	74/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Exclaim!	9/10[10]
Financial Times	[11]
The Guardian	[12]
NME	4/5[13]
Pitchfork	7.5/10[4]
Q	[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
Spin	6/10[6]
Uncut	7/10[16]

Leave Me Alone received mostly positive reviews upon its release, largely describing the album as playful, energetic, and exuberant, although some critics identified a more serious and gloomy side to the music.[17] Though drawing comparisons to many other similarly unpolished garage rock bands, critics praised the album's distinctive success at conveying the band's camaraderie and their enthusiasm for their music. Noel Gardner of NME commented on "the impression [the album] gives of Hinds as a tight-knit girl gang," and Spin's Harley Brown wrote that the band often sounds like "they got carried away with the sheer good fortune of discovering their musical talent -- and how much fun it is playing with each other."[13][6]

The dual vocalists were identified as one of the best aspects of the album, with Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork writing that "the best moments on Leave Me Alone occur when Cosials and Perrote are going all-out, belting together without restraint."[4]

The album has also been negatively criticized for not expanding creatively beyond other bands in the genre, with Spin's Gardner writing that "it's a little hard to avoid feeling like you've heard this one before." Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe criticized the predictability of the songs, saying that he hopes the band's songwriting improves in the future, and that "too many songs...seem like first drafts."[6][18]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Garden"	4:07
2.	"Fat Calmed Kiddos"	3:02
3.	"Warts"	2:35
4.	"Easy"	2:24
5.	"Castigadas en el Granero"	3:46
6.	"Solar Gap"	2:25
7.	"Chili Town"	3:17
8.	"Bamboo"	3:49
9.	"San Diego"	2:30
10.	"And I Will Send Your Flowers Back"	3:34
11.	"I'll Be Your Man"	3:17
12.	"Walking Home"	3:12
Total length:		37:58

Deluxe edition bonus disc

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holograma" (Los Nastys cover)
2.	"When It Comes to You" (Dead Ghosts cover)
3.	"Castigadas en el Granero" (Barn version)
4.	"Between Cans" (Barn version)
5.	"Trippy Gum"
6.	"Davey Crockett" (The Headcoats cover)
7.	"Whiskey" (demo of unreleased song, 11 January 2014)
8.	"Walking Home" (demo, 16 April 2015)
9.	"San Diego" (demo, 6 August 2014)
10.	"Fat Calmed Kiddos" (demo, 24 May 2014)
11.	"Chili Town" (demo, 28 February 2015)
12.	"Castigadas en el Granero" (8-bit version)

Personnel

Credits for Leave Me Alone adapted from album liner notes.[19]

Hinds

• Carlotta Cosials – vocals, guitar
• Amber Grimbergen – drums
• Ade Martín – bass guitar
• Ana García Perrote – vocals, guitar

Additional personnel

• Miqui Brightside – photography
• Diego García – mixing, production
• Paco Loco – mixing
• Ashley Standford – photography

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20]	176
UK Albums (OCC)[21]	47
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[22]	3
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[23]	4
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[24]	9
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[25]	21
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[26]	20

References

1. "diymag.com". Retrieved 2018-04-10.
2. "Discogs: Hinds". Retrieved 2018-04-10.
3. "Discogs: Deers". Retrieved 2018-04-10.
4. Moreland, Quinn (5 January 2016). "Hinds: Leave Me Alone". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
5. Day, Laurence (21 September 2016). "Hinds detail deluxe edition of debut record Leave Me Alone". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
6. Brown, Harley (7 January 2016). "Review: Hinds Beat Your Brains By the Beachside on 'Leave Me Alone'". Spin. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
7. "Leave Me Alone by Hinds reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
8. "Reviews for Leave Me Alone by Hinds". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
9. Monger, Timothy. "Leave Me Alone – Hinds". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
10. Henderson, Corey (7 January 2016). "Hinds: Leave Me Alone". Exclaim!. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
11. Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (9 January 2016). "Hinds: Leave Me Alone — review". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
12. Jonze, Tim (7 January 2016). "Hinds: Leave Me Alone review – a riotous rush of girl-gang energy". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
13. Gardner, Noel (6 January 2016). "Hinds – 'Leave Me Alone'". NME. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
14. "Hinds: Leave Me Alone". Q (355): 111. February 2016.
15. Dolan, Jon (23 December 2015). "Leave Me Alone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
16. O'Connell, Sharon (February 2016). "Hinds: Leave Me Alone". Uncut (225): 77.
17. Skinner, James (11 January 2016). "Album Review: Hinds – Leave Me Alone". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
18. Capobianco, Ken (13 January 2016). "Album review: Hinds, 'Leave Me Alone'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
19. Leave Me Alone (liner notes). Hinds. Mom + Pop Music. 2016. MP239-1.CS1 maint: others (link)
20. "Ultratop.be – Hinds – Leave Me Alone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
21. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
22. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
23. "Hinds Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
24. "Hinds Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
25. "Hinds Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
26. "Hinds Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 January 2020.